While we are on the subject of rules, regulations, OHS, discrimination and all the rest of the crap which makes us the most over regulated country on the planet; lets take a quick peek into the companies that actually accredit people with a wad of paper that allows them to officially ‘catch a bus’. Yep, that’s what you read. There is an official accreditation course on how to ‘Catch a bus’. Of course this notion is just ridiculous to the extreme and; like most of the other accredited courses, is just another money making cash cow for those people involved in supply. The courses are all bullsh*t with the excuse [ tired and over worn ] that most people must be protected from them selves and litigation by others, which, like the U.S.A. has gotten out of control. In theory, a house holder cannot even change a light globe – an authorized electrician must do it. Yours truly has been doing engineering and electrics for nearly half a century and all the certificates I hold have jack to do with any of these disciplines. All of the certificates I hold do not help me what-so-ever in my forte field but are supposedly required to even exist or pick up a screw driver. It’s no wonder there are so many incompetent tradies out there because most of their working life is spent getting these crap pieces of paper that allows them to practice what they can’t do in the first place. When I went for one of these certificates, the trainer said ‘There are two worlds today; fantasy land and reality land. Fantasy land is here. When you get your certification you can forget Fantasy land and start living in reality land. Unfortunately, some people have been living in Fantasy land for so long, they can’t tell the difference when they leave here’.
There are three major advances in the field of engineering that I have directly inspired or contributed to. Every one on the planet is using one right now or at least has come across one [ unless you live in a tribe in Tibet and herd sheep in the mountains]. I will not say what they are as this will immediately identify me absolutely to certain people who might take exception to this blog or at least be either embarrassed or think me a little strange.
Needless to say, I can officially declare I once held copy write to all three but the final development was later taken up by people with a bucket load of R and D money and a big company after I released copy write claim. All this, without a single piece of paper proclaiming me ‘competent’ by people who don’t know the meaning of the word.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
regulation gone mad - Joe the cleaner
As is my bent, so to speak, I have a bucket load of comments regarding what’s happening in the political scene of late. However, if I voiced a sensible opinion on every thing that’s happened in this fair land in the last 12 months; we might have a file too long to post.
Needless to say, employment is one of a sh*t load of key issues. What the hell is happening in this country when rules and regulations start to conflict with each other. It’s due to the fact that many people making up these insane [ and inane] rules haven’t got a clue; don’t think about the consequences; or just make them up for the purpose of making everyone’s life a misery and slowing work practice down from a crawl to dead stop.
Example one:
Joe Blow is a part time cleaner working for a cleaning company who assigned him to a client [ Business ]. He works 3 days a week for 3 hours a day; early morning start and finishes just after the business opens. Now Joe has a certificate 4 in building management services [ he can even teach at TAFE if he wants to] but Joe likes hands on cleaning, likes the hours, even if he is slightly pissed off with the pay [ $21 / hour ]. Joe does his best work when he’s feeling good, and Joe feels good when he listens to his music on an MP3 player. He uses ear pieces because even though the place is as big as an air craft hanger AND the only people in the joint are early start staff, he doesn’t want to disturb anyone else. If a staff member wants to talk to Joe, all they have to do is catch his eye [ not yell across the room ] at which point Joe politely removes his ear pieces and talks to the staff member. One day, Joe’s boss turns up at his assigned work place and informs Joe he should be more friendly with meeting and greeting. Also, he has been instructed that he is to cease wearing ear pieces during his cleaning tasks on instructions from the chief of the business. The reason ???. OHS concerns as he would not hear any emergency evacuation alarms. But really, it’s because if the boss wants a word, he has to catch Joe’s eye just like any other normal person.
Is this not a biggest crock of crap you ever heard of.???. Oh ,so that implies that if he was normally hearing impaired [ or freeking deaf anyway ] OR has to wear earplugs for what ever reason [ Noise while vacuuming ] he wouldn’t be allowed to do this job ??? Is not this a blatant act of discrimination and illegal under the work place practices act ??. [ Yes it is – I checked it out ]. His excuse may well be that IF Joe didn’t hear an evacuation alarm, and IF Joe was subsequently injured, Joe could possibly sue – someone, OR maybe the business could sue the cleaning company for allowing Joe to be voluntarily deaf when he need not be.
So you see where two bullsh*t laws conflict, everyone is the meat in the sandwich here. Joe has another bullsh*t option to counter this bullsh*t request. Have the business test the evacuation alarm [ if they have one - or the fire alarm ]. And see if Joe can hear it with his ear pieces in place. Unless he is freeking well blind as well, he would see what was going on apart from the fact that VISUAL indication of an alarm must be installed ANYWAY. The evacuation alarm MUST be loud enough to alert anyone in the building AND visual indication must be placed ANYWHERE a staff member is likely to be for a reasonable amount of time IE: store room but not necessarily a toilet. Since Joe’s job entails that he be most of the time in an open area in sight of staff members and in sight of a visual alarm – the whole exercise in autocratic flexing of muscular authority is pointless.
This is the sort of everyday crap that part time workers have to put up with, it’s no wonder business in this country is going down the dunny. Perhaps the boss of the company has personal issues and this is his way of relieving tensions?. From personal experience, when the ‘Boss’ is TOLD something in no uncertain terms [ which perhaps gets him really pissed off ] he tends to pass on this frustration or anger to people below him. This gives him the satisfaction that he still has at least some measure of control and authority over someone even if the reaction or command makes no sense and is ill conceived. Been there, done that. There are two ways for Joe to deal with this, Firstly, Joe should ask for the request in WRITING from HIS boss. The request should state in detail [ quoting relevant authority and from whom the request has been made ] why this request is being made, the consequences of objecting or ignoring this request. Come backs could go on for days including the usual bull sh*t arbitration, consultation and conciliation in a meeting between all parties over a bloody music player in a cleaners ear hole. Political regulation gone insane.
The Discrimination clause is NOT canceled out by any OHS concerns since there are avenues to negate the request by the very regulation that is implied [ Visual alarms, hearing impaired worker, noise abatement using a vacuum, ear infection, objection to mood music in the store etc etc the list goes on ].
What is the purpose of this request from the business manager?, is it just an exercise in control for ego sake. Obviously he has not taken the time to think this out.
The whole exercise is a process of futility, frustration, annoyance, and just plain pissing Joe off for the sake of before business cleaning. An unhappy worker will just make Joe more distant, unfriendly, and resentful – what other demands are forth coming for a cleaner who has more certificates than the whole staff of the store collectively and takes this bullsh*t for $21 / hour ?.
OHS inspection of his place of cleaning would reveal blatant breaches of several items, of which we won’t go into for the moment as Joe believes in everyone making a mistake 3 times. The first was accusing Joe of not cleaning a toilet – and Joe stated he NEVER misses a toilet. He also informed the boss that who ever made this casual observation was mis-informed [ effectively calling his staff member a liar or an idiot ] since Joe cleans here once every TWO days as required by contract. All his staff should be well aware of this. The second mistake was not acting on the request to do something about the obvious smell in the men’s public toilet that will not go away no matter how much cleaner is used; obviously faulty piping from the urinal.
The third mistake was requesting that Joe use something that leaves a pleasant smell all over the place where he has cleaned so that the BOSS of the premises knows by his nose, that Joe has indeed cleaned the respective area [including the public area the size of an air craft hanger – no sh*t] . Instead of a nice lemon smelling compound [ which Joe favors and uses ] Joe’s cleaning company boss, recommends a harsh, corrosive solution of chlorine leaving the place smell like something god awful. Unfortunately, the lemon smelling compound also makes the floors very slippery, a distinct danger to staff even though signs are in place. There’s another OHS concern regarding an ill conceived request. Lemon is good but customers will slip on their arse, chlorine is good but will turn customers right off the place [ apart from the fact that if it’s used on painted surfaces in toilets, it will eventually strip the paint right off the wall – lovely]. Best bet – don’t use anything but cleaner and water on the floors, and lemon compound on the walls – which is what Joe has been doing from day one; there you go, He has just negated the whole useless exercise in futility – what a farce.
So the three mistake points have been duly noted by Joe and this ear piece request is not on unless he gets it officially in writing quoting relevant rules or regulations. The customer is always right, you say. It’s his business, you say. That’s fine with Joe, but Joe has a standard and work ethic as well and if this standard is improved by audible enhancement, that’s a good thing both for Joe AND the business.
Needless to say, employment is one of a sh*t load of key issues. What the hell is happening in this country when rules and regulations start to conflict with each other. It’s due to the fact that many people making up these insane [ and inane] rules haven’t got a clue; don’t think about the consequences; or just make them up for the purpose of making everyone’s life a misery and slowing work practice down from a crawl to dead stop.
Example one:
Joe Blow is a part time cleaner working for a cleaning company who assigned him to a client [ Business ]. He works 3 days a week for 3 hours a day; early morning start and finishes just after the business opens. Now Joe has a certificate 4 in building management services [ he can even teach at TAFE if he wants to] but Joe likes hands on cleaning, likes the hours, even if he is slightly pissed off with the pay [ $21 / hour ]. Joe does his best work when he’s feeling good, and Joe feels good when he listens to his music on an MP3 player. He uses ear pieces because even though the place is as big as an air craft hanger AND the only people in the joint are early start staff, he doesn’t want to disturb anyone else. If a staff member wants to talk to Joe, all they have to do is catch his eye [ not yell across the room ] at which point Joe politely removes his ear pieces and talks to the staff member. One day, Joe’s boss turns up at his assigned work place and informs Joe he should be more friendly with meeting and greeting. Also, he has been instructed that he is to cease wearing ear pieces during his cleaning tasks on instructions from the chief of the business. The reason ???. OHS concerns as he would not hear any emergency evacuation alarms. But really, it’s because if the boss wants a word, he has to catch Joe’s eye just like any other normal person.
Is this not a biggest crock of crap you ever heard of.???. Oh ,so that implies that if he was normally hearing impaired [ or freeking deaf anyway ] OR has to wear earplugs for what ever reason [ Noise while vacuuming ] he wouldn’t be allowed to do this job ??? Is not this a blatant act of discrimination and illegal under the work place practices act ??. [ Yes it is – I checked it out ]. His excuse may well be that IF Joe didn’t hear an evacuation alarm, and IF Joe was subsequently injured, Joe could possibly sue – someone, OR maybe the business could sue the cleaning company for allowing Joe to be voluntarily deaf when he need not be.
So you see where two bullsh*t laws conflict, everyone is the meat in the sandwich here. Joe has another bullsh*t option to counter this bullsh*t request. Have the business test the evacuation alarm [ if they have one - or the fire alarm ]. And see if Joe can hear it with his ear pieces in place. Unless he is freeking well blind as well, he would see what was going on apart from the fact that VISUAL indication of an alarm must be installed ANYWAY. The evacuation alarm MUST be loud enough to alert anyone in the building AND visual indication must be placed ANYWHERE a staff member is likely to be for a reasonable amount of time IE: store room but not necessarily a toilet. Since Joe’s job entails that he be most of the time in an open area in sight of staff members and in sight of a visual alarm – the whole exercise in autocratic flexing of muscular authority is pointless.
This is the sort of everyday crap that part time workers have to put up with, it’s no wonder business in this country is going down the dunny. Perhaps the boss of the company has personal issues and this is his way of relieving tensions?. From personal experience, when the ‘Boss’ is TOLD something in no uncertain terms [ which perhaps gets him really pissed off ] he tends to pass on this frustration or anger to people below him. This gives him the satisfaction that he still has at least some measure of control and authority over someone even if the reaction or command makes no sense and is ill conceived. Been there, done that. There are two ways for Joe to deal with this, Firstly, Joe should ask for the request in WRITING from HIS boss. The request should state in detail [ quoting relevant authority and from whom the request has been made ] why this request is being made, the consequences of objecting or ignoring this request. Come backs could go on for days including the usual bull sh*t arbitration, consultation and conciliation in a meeting between all parties over a bloody music player in a cleaners ear hole. Political regulation gone insane.
The Discrimination clause is NOT canceled out by any OHS concerns since there are avenues to negate the request by the very regulation that is implied [ Visual alarms, hearing impaired worker, noise abatement using a vacuum, ear infection, objection to mood music in the store etc etc the list goes on ].
What is the purpose of this request from the business manager?, is it just an exercise in control for ego sake. Obviously he has not taken the time to think this out.
The whole exercise is a process of futility, frustration, annoyance, and just plain pissing Joe off for the sake of before business cleaning. An unhappy worker will just make Joe more distant, unfriendly, and resentful – what other demands are forth coming for a cleaner who has more certificates than the whole staff of the store collectively and takes this bullsh*t for $21 / hour ?.
OHS inspection of his place of cleaning would reveal blatant breaches of several items, of which we won’t go into for the moment as Joe believes in everyone making a mistake 3 times. The first was accusing Joe of not cleaning a toilet – and Joe stated he NEVER misses a toilet. He also informed the boss that who ever made this casual observation was mis-informed [ effectively calling his staff member a liar or an idiot ] since Joe cleans here once every TWO days as required by contract. All his staff should be well aware of this. The second mistake was not acting on the request to do something about the obvious smell in the men’s public toilet that will not go away no matter how much cleaner is used; obviously faulty piping from the urinal.
The third mistake was requesting that Joe use something that leaves a pleasant smell all over the place where he has cleaned so that the BOSS of the premises knows by his nose, that Joe has indeed cleaned the respective area [including the public area the size of an air craft hanger – no sh*t] . Instead of a nice lemon smelling compound [ which Joe favors and uses ] Joe’s cleaning company boss, recommends a harsh, corrosive solution of chlorine leaving the place smell like something god awful. Unfortunately, the lemon smelling compound also makes the floors very slippery, a distinct danger to staff even though signs are in place. There’s another OHS concern regarding an ill conceived request. Lemon is good but customers will slip on their arse, chlorine is good but will turn customers right off the place [ apart from the fact that if it’s used on painted surfaces in toilets, it will eventually strip the paint right off the wall – lovely]. Best bet – don’t use anything but cleaner and water on the floors, and lemon compound on the walls – which is what Joe has been doing from day one; there you go, He has just negated the whole useless exercise in futility – what a farce.
So the three mistake points have been duly noted by Joe and this ear piece request is not on unless he gets it officially in writing quoting relevant rules or regulations. The customer is always right, you say. It’s his business, you say. That’s fine with Joe, but Joe has a standard and work ethic as well and if this standard is improved by audible enhancement, that’s a good thing both for Joe AND the business.
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